Circuit-interrupter.



l. N. MAHONEY & H. G. MACDONALD- "CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5. I914.

Patented May 9, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET J. N. MAHONEY & H. G. MACDONALD- CIRCUiT INTERRUPTER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, 1914.

1,182,097. 121mm May 9,1916.

2 SHEETS sun 2.

WITNESSES: 1 3 gm 140 9 22;. may

A aWCM W ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT oi rrcn.

JOSEPH N. MAFIONEY AND HOWARD G. MACDONALD, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYL- VANIA, ASSIGNORS TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY,

A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCUIT-INTERRUPTEK Application filed February 5, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we,'Josnri N. MAnoNnr and.HowARD G. MAC/DONALD, citizens of the United States, and residents of \Vilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Circuit-Interrupters, of which the following is' a specification.

Our invention relates to controlling and interrupting means for electric circuits, and it has for its object to provide a doublethrow switch, that may be manually operated, through toggle mechanism, and that automatically opens the circuit from either position when an excessive current traverses the same.

Various devices of the above mentioned character have been proposed but their mechanical construction-was such that uniform control from either position of the switch was difiicult to attain, since the operation was performed by a system. of direct levers.

In our present invention, we. provide means whereby the circuit interrupter may be interrupted, when in either of its closed positions, by the same tripping device and also a toggle mechanism which operates, in either position of the operating handle, to increase theleverage and, co sequently, the force, toward the latter part- ,f its operation.

In the accompanying dra ngs, Figure 1 is a side view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of a circuit interrupter em bodying our invention, Fig. 2 is a rear view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of the circuit interrupter shown in Fig. 1, Fig; 3 is a topplan view of the circuit interrupter shown in Figs. 1 and 2, Fig. 4 is a detail view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of the controlling handle embodied in our invention, Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the controlling handle shown in Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail view of operating mechanism which embodies our invention.

Referring to the drawings, the circuit interrupter 1 comprises a frame 2 that is mounted upon an insulating slab or panel 3, a plurality of stationary terminal memhers-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,, 10, 11 and 12, movable contact members 14, abifurcated operating lever 16 and an overload release magnet 17.

'The stationary terminal members 4, 5, 6, 7,

8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are supported by the cover Specification of Letters Patent.

Pa-tented May 9, 1916.

Serial'No. 316,749.

member 18 of the interrupter 1 and are surrounded by insulating bushings 19. The stationary terminal members 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12 severally comprise arcing contact and current-carrying switch members 13 and 15,

respectively, to the upper parts of which are attached connectors 20. The arcing contact members 13 comprise pin terminals 21 that are movably fitted intosupports 22 conable contact members 14, that are pivoted on the terminal members 7, 8 and 9, have similar V-shaped contact members 24 for engagem'ent therewith and auxiliary contact members 25 for engaging the stationary arcing contact members 13 as are found in the usual forms of double-throw oil-insulated switches. The movable contact members 14 severally have two arms angularly disposed for alternately engaging the contact terminals 4, 5 and 6, and 10, 11 and 12, respectively. The simultaneous action of the movable members 14 is obtained by the use of a link 26 one end of which is pivotally connected to one arm of the movable contact members 14 and the other end of which is pivotally connected to one end of the bifurcated operating lever 16 that has a fulcrum shaft 27. Each of the arms 28 and 29 of the bifurcated lever 16 is provided with a pin 30 and the main part of the lever is provided with a projection 31, for reasons gagement with either the projection 31 or the pin 38, or both, for reasons hereinafter stated, Two toggle links 40 and 41 are pivotally connected to the inner member 43 of an operating lever 44 by a pin 42. The links and 41 are slotted at their free ends to engage the pins 30 in the respective members 28 and 29 of the lever 16.

v The operating lever 44 and the inner megn ber 43 are pivoted between pins 45 and 45, the member 43 being hollow and having an opening in its outer end to receive a tripping rod 46 that is pivotally attached, at one end, to the upper end of a rocker arm 47, the lower end of which is pivotally con nected to the inner end of a link member 48. The outer end of the link member 48 is pivotally attached to a bell crank lever 49 that is pivoted on a frame 50. A tripping electromagnet 17 that is provided with a plunger 52 which is adapted to engage the bell crank lever 49 is supported on the frame 50. A latch 53 that is provided with a projection 54 for engagin a recess 54 in the end of the inner membe .43, substantially as shown in Fig. 1 of e drawings is pivotally attached to the outer end of the lever 44. The latch 53 is held in engagement with the inner member 43 by a spring 55 and is thrown out of engagement by the rod 46. The outer end of the lever 44 is provided with a pin 56 thatis adapted to be engaged by either the latch 57 or the latch 58 which are pivoted 0n the frame of the electromagnet 17 and the frame work 50, respectively. The lever 44 is provided with a handle 59 in which a rod 60 is adapted to operate, against a small helical spring 61,

to disengage the latches 57 and- 58, respec-.

I tively.

Assuming the parts to be in the positions shown in Figs 1 and 2, and that an ex-"' cessive current traverses the winding of the tripping electromagnet 17, the; circuit interrupter operates as follows: The plunger 52'of the electromagnet rises, engages the bell crank lever 49, and operates the rocker arm 47 which moves the rod 46 downwardly to disengage the projection 54 from the recess 54 in the member 43. Themember 43, being thus released, moves upwardly to the position shown in by the dot and dash lines in Fig. 1 by reason of the contraction of the spring 39 that moves the dog 33 until the face 37 engages the pin 38. Such movement of the dog 35 serves to actuate the lever- 16, because'of the engagement of the face 35 with the pin 31, which disengages the contact members to open the circuit. The various parts thus assume the positions shown in Fig. 6 where the two dogs and the levers are in their neutral positions, but the outer operating lever 44 is retained in its lowest position by the latch 57.

In order to close the circuit through the terminal members 7,3 and 9 and the terminal members 10, 11 and 12, respectively, the

- rod 60 is pressed to disengage the latch 57 requires a longer lever arm for and the handle is then raised until the projection 54 engages the recess 54 in the inner member 43. The two members are then moved upwardly until the latch member 58 engages the pin 56. This movement is transmitted through the toggle link 40 to the forked member 28 of the lever 16, thus causing the same to move downwardly, the inner end of the lever 16 to move upwardly and the movable contact members 14 to engage'the contact terminals 10, 11 and 12. When the lever arm 16 is moved upwardly, the dog 33 is moved downwardly until its face 37 engages the pin 38 and the projection 31 on the lever 16 carries the face 34 of the dog 32 upwardly to place the spring 39 under suchtension that, when the electromagnet 17 is again energized, the inner member 43 is tripped free of the outer member 44 in the manner hereinbefore described, leaving the outer member secured in its upper position by the latch 58. When the lever 16 is in its upper position and is released, the force of gravity assists the spring 39 to return the same to its neutral position, therefore, the dog 32 need not be as long as the dog 33 that acts-against the force of gravity when it operates and hence spring tension.

To close the circuit through the terminals 4, 5 and 6 and the terminals 7, 8 and 9,

the outer lever 44 is manually released until it again engages the inner lever 43 and the two are moved. downwardly until the lever 44 'is again latched by the latch 57. This motion is transmitted through the toggle link 41 to the forked member 29 of the lever 16 which moves upwardly and causes the other end of lever 16 to move downwardly and the movable contact members 14 to engage thestationary terminal memhers 4, 5 and 6. When the lever 16 moves downwardly, the face 35 of the dog 33 is engaged by the projection 31, the s ring 39 is tensioned and the component tgarts of the device assume the positions substantially shown in Fig. 1. I

The toggle links 40 and 41 are an arranged as to operate one at a time, thns'giving toggle motion from each ofjthetwo positions, which increases the effectiveness of the operatiomby increasing, as hereinbe fore explained'rthe leverage toward the'latform and details of construction may be made within the scope of our invention as set forth in the appended claims.

W'e claim as our invention:

1. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating handle, of a pair of pivoted, spring-connected dogs of ditl'erent lengths for automatically returning the movable contact member to its mid position, under predetermined conditions, and

a double toggle joint, interposed between the said operating handle and the movable contact member.

2. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contact cai rying member, of a plurality of toggle links interposed between the said operating lever and the contacbcarrying member, and means for returning the switch to its opencircuit position from either position with \equal force after it has been closed.

3. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contact-carrying member, of two toggle links pivotally connected to the said operating leverand op eratively connected to the said contact-can rying member, and means comprising a pair of rotatablv mounted dogs of different length connected together by a single spring and adapted to engage a projection that is mounted on the said contact-carrying member and a corresponding stationary projection.

4. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contactcarrying member, of a pair of pivoted dogs of different lengths that are connected bya single spring for returning the contact-carrying member to its mid position with the same force under predetermined conditions.

5. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contactcarrying lever, of two links pivoted on the operating lever and operatii'ely connected to two points on the contact-carrying lever through pin-and-slot connections.

6. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contactrarrying lever, of two toggle links pivoted on the ope 'ating lever and operatively connected to two points on the contact-carrying lever through piirand-slot connections.

7. In adouble-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and acontactcarrying lover, of two toggle links pivoted at one end of the operating lever and operatively connected to two points on the contact-carrying lever.

8. In a double-throw switch, the combination with an operating lever and a contact carrying member, of two toggle links interposed between the operating lever and the contact-carrying member.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 28 day of January, 1914.

JOSEPH N. MAHONEY, HOWARD G. MACDONALD.

Witnesses J NO. MoKEcHNm, B. B. HINES. 

